The Bat (
1959) is a
mystery film directed by
Crane Wilbur, and co-starring
Vincent Price and
Agnes Moorehead. Its tagline was "When it flies, someone dies!" The film was based on the 1920 Broadway play by
Avery Hopwood and
Mary Roberts Rinehart, which was previously filmed as
The Bat (1926) and as
The Bat Whispers (1930), both directed by
Roland West. The 1959 version also features
Darla Hood of
The Little Rascals in her final film appearance.
[IMDB trivia]
Plot
Agnes Moorehead plays Cornelia Van Gorder, a
mystery author who lives in a town terrorized by a mysterious murderer known only as "The Bat". The Bat is said to be a man with no face who murders women at night by ripping out their throats with steel claws. Early in the film, The Bat enters Van Gorder's house and releases a
bat, which bites van Gorder's maid Lizzy, played by
Lenita Lane. With Lizzy in a panic, fearing she may now have contracted "the
rabies", an outbreak of which local papers have reported, Van Gorder calls her doctor, Dr Malcolm Wells (Price), who is conducting research on bats.